World No Tobacco Day commemorated: Minister advises youth against smoking shisha, e-cigarettes
The Health Minister, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, has advised the youth against allowing themselves to be lured into smoking shisha and electronic-cigarettes (e-cigarettes) since they also have the propensity to cause cancer and deaths like tobacco.
He said tobacco-related diseases cost the nation an estimated $607 million each year, with about 6,000 preventable deaths.
“Nearly 450,000 adults smoke regularly in the country, with men more likely to smoke than women. It is estimated that about 13.6 per cent of youth smoke shisha, while about 2.2 per cent smoke e-cigarettes," Mr Akandoh added.
The minister, who gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf by the Director of Technical Coordination at the ministry, Dr Hafez Adam Taher, was speaking at an event to commemorate this year's World No Tobacco Day in Accra on Tuesday, even though the commemorative day was last Sunday.
It was on the theme: "Unmasking the appeal: Countering nicotine and tobacco addiction."
Progress
The minister, however, said that despite the challenges, Ghana remained a recognisable leader in tobacco control across the sub-region.
The country declined in adult smoking from three per cent in 2017, to approximately 2.2 per cent currently.
The progress demonstrates that policies, public health initiatives and interventions such as sustained public education, strong legislation and collective action were making a lot of difference, he said.
Mr Akandoh, who is also the Member of Parliament (NDC), for Juaboso Constituency in the Western North Region, however, expressed worry at the way shisha had been presented as a fashionable product, but was eventually destroying lives.
Reflections
The acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), Gayheart Edem Mensah, said the commemoration of the day called for a reflection on the devastating economic impact of smoking tobacco.
He said the celebration was an opportunity to re-affirm the nation's collective commitment to protect, and preserve present and future generations of the harmful effects of tobacco.
"For us as a country, it is also a reminder of our obligations under the World Health Organisation (WHO) framework convention for the control of tobacco use, as well as Ghana's public Health Act.
"These protocols bring into focus our shared responsibilities to safeguard and protect public health," Mr Mensah said.
Action
The representative of WHO in Ghana, Dr Fiona Braka, called on the government, partners and communities to take decisive action to combat the menace of smoking.
She said although the continent had made some progress through initiating tobacco smoking policies such as health warnings, much still needed to be done.
Dr Braka commended the Ministry of Health, the Parliament of Ghana and civil society organisations for contributing to the progress made so far.
